Dumpster Diving or Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

I divorced after 22 years of marriage. 
Stability. 
Family. 
Home.
Business. 
Gone.
I fell off the proverbial life's cliff.  (Sometimes it seems I was shoved off.)
And I landed exactly where I was supposed to.
Within my own arms.

I had the idea to document/write about my experiences working my way through the aftermath of a divorce.  Then, after my mother's stroke and following diagnosis of Alzheimer's, I had the idea to document/write about my experiences dealing with that disease from a daughter's view point.  I've many times thought I'd "take up pen and paper" and begin writing after life's tragedies. 

We all go through them.  Mine are no greater, no less than yours.

But sometimes, it seems like some of us tend to collect more than our share.  My mother, a prime example.

It dawned on me today after all these years of going through one trial after another, from dealing with an alcoholic dad as a child to watching helplessly while my sixteen year old son underwent brain surgery to my current state of affairs (jobless, basically "homeless" *living in my sister's spare closet*, and pretty much penniless, starting life all over at age forty-seven) that we have this amazing ability to CHOOSE.  We choose how to view our lives, how we look at all of our difficulties.  We choose whether to label them good or bad. 

When I was younger, my older brother taught me how to "dumpster dive".  It took some brawn to overcome the desire to pull away when things got stinky.  Who in their right minds would open up a smelly trash container in search of some hidden, discarded treasure?  I was a GIRL!  But curiosity got the best of me and I tagged along.  Quite often he'd come out worse for wear, but every now and then, he would find something that he could fix up, repaint or restore, or something that he could sell.  I realized how life is like that.  Sometimes situations we find ourselves in REAK.  They aren't pretty.  They tarnish everything else that feels good and whole in our lives.  We shy away or run away or look away.  Anything to escape the unpleasant.  There are some, though, who fearlessly dive into life;  into the negatives, into the positives.  And they not only survive, they thrive.  They seek out and find and are able to identify the bits and parts that bring about an addition to their lives.  The things that come from places where you have to dig deep. 
Blessings. 
Gems. 
Treasures that once dusted off and straightened up create so much more than what was there before. 

So I'm beginning this blog from where I'm at.  Here.  With all of life's flaws and all the growing pains that I know are around the bend.  I made a conscious choice recently.  I'm going to view life not as a "series of unfortunate events"... but this big giant dumpster that contains all this stuff to be experienced.  No more negatives or positives.  Just experiences.  I'm diving in.  I'm writing about it all.  And I'm asking you to join me in the leap.  And if I can encourage ONE human soul to be braver, stronger and more courageous, more able to L.I.V.E. fully?  Then life is sweet.